Wednesday, September 30, 2009

As some of you know I am busy tweaking the keynote I am going to be giving at Lamaze and I really want it to be positive. I laughed when I watched this You Tube video - Someone took the time to piece together all the affirmations that Apple's Steve Jobs used in a keynote. Great, cool, awesome, beautiful, and more!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What a treat to learn my website host - FatCow - powers the energy for their offices and data centers with Wind Power! Well the small print says they are off setting all of their electrcity use with wind generated renewable energy certificates. It's a start!

Looking for a new website host? Check out FatCow Tell them I sent you and they reduce my hosting fees! (Although it's already a great price!)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

In the United States, the average age of first-time mothers rose from 21.4 years in 1970 to 25 in 2006, according to an August 2009 data brief from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Data from the Birth Data File in the National Vital Statistics System show that the average age at first birth increased in all states and the District of Columbia. Massachusetts (5.2 years) and the District of Columbia (5.5 years) had the largest increases since 1970.

Age at first birth influences the total number of births that a woman might have in her life, which impacts the future growth of the population. The mother’s age (both younger and older) also plays a role in a range of birth outcomes, including birthweight, multiple births and birth defects. For more information, go to CDC.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Monnie has gone through Passion for Birth program and it is an honor to know her. I was so proud to learn that she is a California Nursing Excellence finalist. CA Nursing Excellenence

She was selected for her community service. She has created a volunteer program to give labor support to homeless, poor or mentally ill women. She is on-call 24-7 to match doulas who she trains and supports with women who arrive at the birthing center needing help. She writes grants, sells t-shirts to make sure the program stays afloat and "that women aren't along during the birthing ritual."

I hope she receives the award, that every single grant she applies for is funded and that she is able to continue her awesome program at SF General. She is certainly an inspiration to all of us.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

As childbirth educators we have been pondering that important question - how early is early enough to plant seeds for a healthy, empowering birth? This video may be the answer - when you are 3.5 years old!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Kyndal May has created a new tradition - contest for people in her childbirth class and it is original and creative. Everyone makes a t-shirt for their baby with a statement about Oxytocin. She had them nicely photographed and now there is a voting contest on FaceBook. My favorite is above - Oxytocin...that's how I roll out!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

When I revamped the Passion for Birth website, I decided to try to keep the home page crisp and clean and featured a quote about learning. Well I never want to be accused of a boring website that never changes, so I am going to try to change the quote and pic every two weeks!

SO....check it out! I also added seminars in Seattle, Sioux Falls, Mobile, Lincoln and more are in the works!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Have you heard about the weekly Lamaze newsletters that people in your childbirth program can sign up for and received in their email box? Are you a bit like me, that before I can recommend something, I need to read it? When they first came out, I enrolled myself with a fantasy due date - well that's a long process to wait and read. I found a short cut for you to check them out: Building Confidence Week by Week

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Minnesota Public Radio does a program In the Loop that does a Cold Call to listeners. Veronica Jacobsen (PfB grad/LCCE and commentor on this blog) was the lucky recipient of a call and did admirably thinking on her feet. Way to go Veronica! Listen to Veronica If you want to listen to the program and hear how they added "Ira Glass Birth Relaxation" after her interview (at the end of the podcast.) In the Loop

What this points out is the importance of reaching out to get our message across - she wove doulas into the healthcare debate and then through her Facebook page (which Minnesota Public Radio had read) shared a relaxation in labor tip!

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

There's a new interesting blog on the scene. Someone is collecting all those comments that are said to women during labor that makes you shake your head and wonder "why would anyone say that to a laboring woman?"

Have you heard comments that made you pause? Send them in. Obviously due to HIPPA there can be no identifying names/places etc.

Monday, September 07, 2009

This post is honor of Labor Day and for my son - who recently joined the Coast Guard and is sailing in and out and around Key West! If he ever gets the chance to transport a woman in labor, he will know just what to do.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

As some of you may know, I am so lucky to be part of the teaching team for the Seattle Midwifery School - the Penny Simkin School of Allied Birth Vocations! Well exciting things have been happening and SMS and the Simkin School are becoming part of Bastyr University. So last week I and Sharon Muza and Sarah Huntington led the final group through a four day doula training before the program joins with Bastyr. And what a group! At the end of these trainings it just feels absolutely wonderful that there is another group of sensitive, skilled, energetic doulas ready to support women as they birth!!

Thinking about becoming a doula? Come to Washington! The dates are set for 2010 Doula training

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Many of you have had been lucky enough to attend one of the annual Passion for Birth workshops at Topsail Beach, NC. PfB learning facilitator (Passioneer) and host of this workshop is Ann Tumblin. She sent out the link to this YouTube clip to share for a number of reasons - we always talk about the Loggerhead turtles as it's part of the culture of the Topsail area. There is a Loggerhead hospital, Ann's home on the beach is The Loggerhead. She shares a story about why induction should be avoided similar to why baby turtles should not be pulled from the hatching nest early. You can see the gloved "turtle doulas" in the film. I think if Passion for Birth was a sports team, the Loggerhead would have to be our mascot! (I was a doula at a birth where the woman's ritual with each contraction was to gently lift and lower her hands, next to her sides - when I asked her later was going on, she had been a Loggerhead volunteer and was visualizing the turtle laying the eggs.)

So I decided to share this clip and to also let you know that the dates are set for the Topsail Beach seminar for 2010. If you are interested, reserve your spot now! May 20 - 23, 2010. We modify the schedule to allow for afternoon beach time. We can honestly claim to be THE workshop that is the closest to the ocean! The group rents and shares condos - some bring families. Hope we will see some of you there!

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Depression is common during pregnancy—between 14 percent and 23 percent of pregnant women will experience depressive symptoms while pregnant. In 2003, approximately 13 percent of women took an antidepressant at some time during their pregnancy.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

I have always loved this quote and I thank Kyndal for recently sending it to me to nudge my memory:

“Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.”-- William Butler Yeats

I was so nudged that I decided to feature it on the Passion for Birth home page I have felt for awhile that my home page needed to be simplified - my fascination with widgets had over run the webpage. Let me know what you think.

Lamaze requirements to take their certification exam:

Basically if you are a new childbirth educator and attend a PfB seminar, you need to teach a session with an observer/mentor and work through the Lamaze Study guide. (It is still highly recommended that you observe someone else teach, observe births, create a course design, and read the recommended reading.)

For experienced childbirth educators, you need to take a PfB seminar, document your 60 hours of teaching and you are set!